


Summer Youth

by taempyrean



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Spanish, Blushing, Cliche Overload, Cuddling & Snuggling, Did You Know Jack Has Blue Eyes?, Endearments, Feelings, First Kiss, First Love, Flowers, Fluff, For Once Gabe Isn't the One Struggling With His Feels, I Love McHanzo But Feel Unqualified to Write It, It's Barely Angst Guys I'm Too Sappy, Light Angst, Love at First Sight, M/M, Pet Names, Sappy, Sappy Ending, Shyness, Summer, Summer Love, Summer Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Young Love, Young Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Young Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Young Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Young Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, excessive blushing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 02:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17572181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taempyrean/pseuds/taempyrean
Summary: Gabe is a junior in high school, spending his summer across the country, studying in the crime department at the prestigious Bloomington University in the heart of rural Indiana. Jack is a local, born and raised, with a heart for exploration. This is a story of fate, learning to love, and the magic of summer nights: This is their story.





	Summer Youth

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the amazing artist Miki (you can find them over at non-fatmilk.tumblr.com) and their gosh dang beautiful Childhood AU/Young Reaper76 art. 
> 
> Here are a few samples: https://tinyurl.com/yd7qlry2 & https://tinyurl.com/y8k5epbe
> 
> After seeing their work, I absolutely fell in love with the concept of Younger Reaper76 and went to look for fics. Upon finding very few, I decided that I was obligated to write one myself, and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out (because I am a mega sap). 
> 
> Translations for the bits and pieces of (hopefully somewhat accurate) Spanish are in the End Notes.
> 
> Enjoy!

21:23:10.

The switchgrass and Jack sigh in unison, the former flexing malleable under the gentle hand of the summer night’s breeze. The boy rolls onto his back, shutting his eyes and letting himself be rocked by the wild grass. He cracks one eye open and glances at his watch.

21:23:47.

The blonde groans, turning back onto his stomach. He flips his hood up. He takes it off. He flips it up again. Nestling his chin in the crook of his folded arms, Jack shuts his eyes, firmly. He feels the wind and the grass. He thinks about the stars and about… him. But he definitely, absolutely does not—will not—open his eyes to check the time again. Because Jack Morrison is many things, but Jack Morrison refuses to be desperate. Or at least, not _that_ desperate.

“Gotcha.”

Jack lets out a huff as a big weight plops itself onto his back, squashing his ribs against the dirt ground. Face caught somewhere between pain, suppressed excitement, and feigned irritation, he steadies his voice as he calls out, “Gabe, get off! For Pete’s sake, don’t _sit_ on me!”

And in the next instant, Jack is blinking his eyes to shake off the whiplash… as he finds his eye level suddenly above what feels like miles and miles of switchgrass, their stalks and soft tips kissing the star-studded sky like brushes on a well-loved canvas. In the distance, he can just make out the yellowish glow of his porch light.

“Then how about you sit on _me_ , for _my_ sake? How does that sound, Jackie?”

Gabe’s teasing voice lures Jack out of his reverie. Looking down, the blonde realizes with a flush that the reason he is now able to see above the tall wild grass is because there happens to be a very smug looking Gabriel Reyes sprawled out beneath him, hands resting behind his head. Gabe had flip-flopped their positions, only this time Gabe was lying with his back against the ground, and Jack was seated on top, thereby leaving Jack’s butt positioned right around Gabe’s…

The blue-eyed boy flops forward, letting his body sprawl out along the length of the other’s. Immediately, his hot, blushing face seeks out its favorite hiding spot—the crook of Gabe’s neck, much to said male’s amusement, if his gruff chuckle is any indicator.

“Don’t tease me,” comes Jack’s sheepish, muffled voice.

“I’m sorry, _mi tesoro_ ,” Gabe chuckles once more, not sounding the least bit remorseful. “Here, I brought you a little something to make up for it.”

Reaching up to grasp Jack’s right hand from where it had been resting, curled against the brunette’s chest, Gabe guides it lower and lower… until he carefully brushes the back of it against something soft.

Eyebrow quirking, Jack pulls his face out from between Gabe’s head and shoulder to glimpse at his gift. His eyes widen instantly.

“Gabe, they’re… they’re beautiful.”

Grinning, Gabe raises the bouquet from where it had been resting beside the pair on the ground, gently running the petals along the length of Jack’s still stunned expression. “I had to skip class a couple minutes early to sneak into the greenhouse and get this ready for you.” In a softer, fonder tone, he continues. “So, I guess you could say this extra time we have together counts as a second present I got for you, too.”

Jack lets out a sigh as he takes the bouquet from Gabe, nuzzling his face into the sweet medley of blossoms. “Mm, I love them… but you shouldn’t keep stealing from the university, you know.”

“Last time, I promise.” Gabe chuckles at the eye roll that earns him. “Besides, most of the flowers I used in the bouquet grow wild here, so I just picked ‘em myself. The only ones I needed to nab were—“

“The pink camellias,” Jack finishes. “My favorite.”

“Your favorite.” Gabe props himself up on his elbows, tilting his chin upwards to press a chaste kiss to the tip of Jack’s strawberry-flushed, freckle-speckled nose. “Happy one month, _mi luna_.”

Now it is Gabe’s turn to take in the natural world around them, listening to the occasional cricket’s chorus and trying not to feel disappointed by Jack’s lack of response. _Jack is shy about relationship stuff,_ he reminds himself, _All things considered, we’ve come a long way from the days of zero physical contact and mental breakdowns whenever I’d say his name…_

Gabe peers at the blonde, who is currently snuggled up on top of him, face pressed firmly into his chest. Gabe then flops back to the ground, drawing an absolutely adorable sound of shock from Jack’s throat. _Jackie is worth it,_ Gabe thinks, smiling to himself. Jack, his sweet, earnest, 14-year-old lover… his summer romance. The brunette’s smile falters at the last thought. _Just one more week until the program ends…_

“Fel… versa…o … un mes.” Jack’s voice is near inaudible as he speaks decidedly into Gabe’s shirt.

“Come again?”

Jack looks up, determination dancing in his beautiful baby blues. _“Feliz aniversario de un mes! … Mi sol.”_ The term of endearment comes almost as an afterthought, and it pushes Gabe’s eyebrows from sky-high to practically astronomical.

“Oh gosh… I butchered that didn’t I?” Jack squeaks, shrinking back into a little ball balanced atop Gabe’s chest. “Just… I didn’t say that, okay?”

“ _Tú me vuelves loco_ ,” Gabe mutters, eyes burning with intent. He runs his fingers through blond, blond hair, earning a bashful blue gaze in return.

“Uh, I haven’t studied that far yet.”

At that, Gabe pulls Jack tightly against his chest and begins pressing slow, deliberate kisses against his hair… his forehead… his nose… his cheeks…

He pauses, their faces mere inches apart. Jack’s body feels hot against his own. Both breathe deeply, in and out, in and out, eyes half-lidded. Gabe watches Jack’s gaze slip lower, down to Gabe’s own parted lips. Jack’s face is flushed, eyelashes fluttering, breath hitching in the most adorable way. He looks perfect— so ripe, so gone, so utterly ready for the taking. And when Jack bites his bottom lip, Gabe feels a surge of white-hot _want_ run through his stomach and up into his chest. He cups the blonde’s blushing face in his hands, running his thumb gently over Jack’s lower lip, which causes him to gasp ever so slightly.

Gabe lets his eyes slip shut, leaning in, slowly. The groundwork has been laid, the mood is perfect, his golden opportunity is here… but through the desire-laden haze in his mind and the thumping of his heart, Gabe can feel vibrations against his hand, quaking. He takes a deep breath and pulls back, feeling his temperature and his heart both sink lower and lower. As much as he wants to, as much as every fiber of his being is pushing him to, he can’t go through with this. Not now. Not when Jack is… trembling at his very touch. He can’t. He won’t. Not like this.

And Jack knows. Sitting up, he fidgets with the hem of his zip-up hoodie. “Gabe, I’m so so—“

“ _Te adoro tanto_.”

The blonde perks up at that, blushing anew. Gabe chuckles.

“Glad to see you’ve been studying the right vocab, Jackie,” Gabe says as he gets to his feet, offering Jack a hand.

Jack grins, taking the hand. “It’s the only Spanish stuff you say to me anyways.”

The two begin wading through the switchgrass together, hand in hand. Completely absorbed with the other’s presence, neither pays any mind to where they are headed. But they hardly need to—their feet know the way.

“I could say other stuff, y’know. And even if I said something so bad it would leave _mi abuela_ turning over in her grave, you’d probably still blush and smile and ‘awww’ and cuddle up to me.”

“Well, go ahead and try it. Maybe I’m not as clueless as you think.”

Gabe licks his lips, considering. The pros to this? Being able to finally voice his feelings for Jack— _all of them_ —and not have to feel guilty about keeping them to himself. Well, not _as_ guilty. The cons? Gabe glances down and is met with an earnest, freckled expression. _Nah, there’s no_ way _he’ll know this_ , Gabe decides. So he goes for it. Hard. “ _Voy a devorarte, mi principito. Dame esa leche y ven conmigo_.”

“Whoa there. I’m gonna need to ask y’all to pack up yer filth and haul it on over to the nearest bedroom, ‘cause Hanzo and I over here sure ain’t lookin’ to catch an eyeful.”

“McCree,” Gabe grumbles as he flips up his hood, hoping that the dim lighting won’t betray his burning cheeks. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Fancy meetin’ ya out here too, Reyes,” Jesse chuckles as he approaches the pair, towing a disgruntled looking Hanzo gently by the waist. “No need to get all territorial; Hanzo and I are jus’ passin’ through. But first… who would this fine lookin’ fella happen to be?” he asks, stepping close to get a good look at Jack’s pleasant expression.

“I’m Jack, Jack Morrison.” Said blonde gives Jesse an earnest grin and a firm handshake. “Nice to meet you, McCree was it?”

“Jesse McCree, at yer service. But you can call me Jesse.” He shoots Jack a wink and tips his worn-looking Stetson hat, causing the blonde to chuckle.

“So, Jesse, you speak Spanish…?”

“My speakin’s a little rusty but I can understand it well ‘nuff. ‘Specially things like what our pal Gabe-o was sayin’ before…” Jesse trails off, shooting Gabe a lecherous eyebrow waggle.

“What did he say?” Jack asks, interest glinting bright in his eyes.

“Well, I don’t think it’d be quite the same comin’ from me.” Jesse takes Hanzo’s hand. “You’d be best off askin’ the man himself,” he continues, gesturing towards a still very flustered looking Gabriel.

“But please, do a man a favor ‘n wait ‘til after Hanzo ‘n I’ve cleared the area. Those’re some visuals I’d prefer not to have driftin’ ‘round in my mind again, even if ya are cute as a button.”

“McCree,” Gabe interjects, warning heavy in his voice.

Jesse either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care, cheerfully continuing. “‘N fact, I reckon ya gotta be the second prettiest thing I ever did see.” Jesse grins and gives Jack a deliberate once over, admiring his captivating blue eyes, youthful freckles, and richly golden hair. _A true ol’ fashioned American beauty_ , he thinks idly.

Jack smiles in return, entertained by Jesse’s playful and easygoing personality. “And just who does the title of Number One belong to?”

“Me.”

An unamused voice cuts through the banter. Jack turns towards the sound, finding himself surprised to see that that stern, steely voice belonged to this elegant beauty. This “Hanzo,” as Jesse had referred to him as, truly was deserving of that Number One title—long, silky black hair, perfectly sculpted cheekbones, a gaze so cool and refined it sent shivers down one’s spine.

Taking in both Jack and Gabe’s stunned silences, Jesse chuckles. “My sugar plum is pretty as a picture, ain’t he?”

“Enough, Jesse,” Hanzo commands, a soft pink dusting his cheeks. “Tell me Gabriel,” Hanzo continues, turning to address the brunette. “Do you plan to contend for the crown that assuredly belongs to myself and Jesse?”

“A crown?” Jack inquires, turning to look at Gabe with a raised eyebrow.

“It’s nothing,” Gabe grits out, voice just daring anyone to say another word on the matter.

Jesse merely smirks in response. “Gabey, ol’ pal, don’t tell me ya ain’t plannin’ to take darlin’ lil’ Jack over here to prom?”

“Prom?” Jack’s outburst is a cross between panicked and ecstatic. “The summer program has a prom?”

Sensing the former emotion, Gabe’s protective instincts kick in. “I’m not going,” he amends, swallowing and looking to Jack to check for signs of calming down.

Instead, what he gets from Jack is a sheepish smile and downcast eyes and an “Oh, right, of course not,” and that is not at all what Gabe wants, damn it, can’t he just stop being such a screw up and get things right for once?

A hand on his shoulder drags Gabe back down to reality. It’s Jesse there at his side, offering an honest, sympathetic smile and a pat on his back—

“See ya at prom, Gabe.”

And with that, Jesse and Hanzo say their polite farewells and head on their way—Jesse with an arm slung around Hanzo’s waist, Hanzo with his head tucked neatly into the crook of Jesse’s neck—back through the field and towards the university dormitories.

“Gabe?” Jack wraps his arms around black hoodie fabric, pressing up against his back and nuzzling his cheek between two well defined trap muscles. Jack smiles. In that one gesture, the blonde could feel the tension slowly but surely start to leave Gabe’s body, all the unspoken stress and irritation and guilt made better by Jack’s presence alone. “Let’s go mark the tree, okay?”

Jack takes Gabe’s hand, and together the two of them walk, silently, intimately. The sweet summer night’s air leaves their cheeks cool and wind-kissed as they brush past.

Eyes fixed on the sky, Gabe idly traces the stars. He thinks back to exactly seven weeks and four days ago, a day he will never forget. It was the only time he has ever been grateful to be an insomniac. Because that night, after he had tossed and turned, thrown off the covers, and sat up in his dormitory’s squeaky bed, he had made the best decision of his life—he had looked out his window. And off in the distance, he had found hair so pure it put gold to shame, and eyes so wide and searching Gabe had only one thought—that, for once in his life, he had more answers than questions, and all of them started and ended with that boy in the field, sitting so still and staring straight up into the stars.

Eyes fixed on the ground, Jack counts the shades of cobalt, indigo, violet, lavender, fuchsia, and blush adorning the ground in neat, round petals. He thinks back to the evening of six weeks and three days ago, when he had been doing very much the same, wandering against the breeze and looking for the source of the delicate debris. The closer he had gotten, the more diverse and dynamic the petals had become, and once his sneaker hit root, Jack had found himself drifting in a lake of watercolor pastels, blues and purples and pinks layered densely around him. When he had looked up, eyes alight with amazement, he had found at the base of the trunk a boy with skin so decadent and lashes so long and plentiful that Jack had felt in that moment that the sleeping boy must be some sort of spirit, the flesh and blood incarnation of the living, beating heart of that big, beautiful wisteria tree. And Jack’s mind had only been able to form one thought as he had settled against the petal-coated ground, fitting his back against the trunk of the tree, eyes dancing over the form of the sleeping boy beside him— _I want_ _you._

“You know I love you, right?”

Gabe’s deep, gravelly voice snaps Jack out of his reverie. They’ve arrived at the wisteria tree, the tree they’ve been marking without fail in neat rows of tally marks since the day that Jack had first found Gabe resting there. Their tree.

A strong gust of wind rustles through the wisteria then, sending a fresh bout of petals fluttering down around the two. Gabe takes both of Jack’s hands in his own, turning to face the latter head on. Gabe watches the blonde, staring down the inches from his eyes to the top of Jack’s head. The younger of the two has his head decidedly turned downward, face obscured by his hair, whipping in the wind.

Then the air stills.

And Gabe hears it, the quietest, most fragile, most heart wrenching of sniffles. His chest tightens.

“Jack… Why are you crying?”

Jack freezes. He stands, breath stuttering. Gabe tries not to watch Jack’s teardrops imprinting the dirt ground as he waits for a response.

“You… you can’t… you can’t love me.”

Outwardly, Gabe maintains his composure. He schools his expression into one of placid care and concern. He makes sure to mask the racing of his heart, the pounding of his head, all the questions of _Have I not been good enough to him? Am I not good enough_ for _him? Does he not see me as… more, like I see him? Does he not… feel it, too?_

So, steadily, Gabe fixes his eyes on that downturned, beautiful blond head and replies, “What do you mean by that?”

“Gabe, c’mon. Y-you know… you know what I’m talking about.” Jack’s tone is despondent.

“Actually, I don’t. Care to enlighten me?”

At that, Jack snaps his face upward, staring straight into Gabe’s stunned expression. His face is flushed, eyes glistening and overflowing like a deep, blue lake in the midst of a springtime downpour, and his gaze radiates equal parts passion and pain, love and heartache.

“Wake up! What don’t you understand? This could never, ever work. There’s no way.”

Indignation rises within Gabe, causing him to furrow his brow and grip Jack’s hands tighter. “Oh yeah? And why the hell not?”

“I’m… I’m only 14. I’ll be turning 15 soon, and soon after, you’ll be 18. The law—“

“What does the law say, Jack? Huh? That I can’t love you? That I _won’t_ love you? Jack, you…” Gabe stumbles, the emotions he tried to suppress breaching the surface. Softly, he continues, “You mean so, so much to me. I’ll wait to do… all those things with you. I don’t care. You’re worth more to me than that.”

Jack looks to the side, clearly struggling to hold up his end of the argument. “And what about your friends? Your classmates? What will they think of you being with… someone like _me_?”

“My friends think you’re _amazing_ , you know this,” Gabe says, hating the loathing in Jack’s voice when he had referred to himself. “And to hell with anyone who doesn’t.”

“The summer program is ending. What then?”  
  
Gabe inhales deeply. “I know it’s… ending. We’ll figure it out, I promise. I know we can. Look—”

Gabe cups the younger’s face in his right hand, firm but tender, and tilts his chin upwards, slowly, making sure Jack lifts his eyes to meet Gabe’s own.

“There’s only one thing that matters now, Jackie.”

“And what… would that be?”

“Do you love me?”

Gabe holds Jack’s gaze along with his breath, eyes burning fierce and vulnerable.

And soft, wet, baby blue eyes widen with the swell of Jack’s heart as behind Gabe’s passionate expression he finds… fear.

“Yes. I do. I’ve loved you since the very start. I love you with every fiber of my being, Gabriel Reyes; you’ve changed my life from the very first day I met you. You are all I think about, day and night, your name is the first thing on my mind when I wake up and the last thought I have before I fall asleep, every night. There is no one in this world that does for me what you do, knows me like you do. And no one ever will. I only want you, Gabe, but I’ve just been so afraid—“ Jack’s voice wavers. “I didn’t think you could love me back, because of everything. I didn’t think it was right for me to let you.”

Gabe pulls Jack tightly against his chest, wrapping his arms around the sweet, precious boy who had just bared his whole heart to Gabe, and trusted him to take care of it. “No one tells me whom I can or can’t love. Not even you, _cariño_. No more fear, Jackie. I’m here, and I will take care of you. No matter what.”

Jack tilts his head back to look up at Gabe. Reaching up, he places his hand lightly on Gabe’s jaw. Then he begins pressing slow, deliberate kisses against Gabe’s neck, along his jaw, against his chin…

“Kiss me,” Jack whispers against the side of Gabe’s jaw.

And he does just that, taking Jack’s face in his hands and pressing his lips against Jack’s expectant, parted ones.

The kiss is brief, the two choosing instead to settle into their favored position of sitting side by side at the base of their tree, Jack’s head tucked into Gabe’s shoulder, Gabe’s arm wrapped around Jack’s waste, their legs intertwined. But in the kiss the two had shared all their unspoken fears and uncertainties from the past month, and in the kiss the two had made a promise—to never let go of the other, no matter what.

“So,” Gabe’s voice breaks through the quiet they had been cherishing together. “Prom?”

“You’re unbelievable,” Jack scoffs and smiles, gently shoving at Gabe’s chest.

“I didn’t hear an answer,” Gabe lilts, teasing.

Jack shakes his head fondly, looking up into Gabe’s radiant expression, his face framed in a garland of moonlight, just as it had been on that fateful night. “For you, _mi amor_? Anything _.”_

And as Gabe pulls Jack a little closer, and as Jack snuggles in a little deeper, the two are able to form only one tiny, three-worded thought— _I love you._  

**Author's Note:**

> Translations (courtesy of Google Translate, I don't speak Spanish, sadly, but Gabe's gotta have his pet names):  
> mi tesoro - my treasure  
> mi luna - my moon  
> feliz aniversario de un mes - happy one month anniversary  
> mi sol - my sun  
> tú me vuelves loco - you drive me crazy  
> te adoro tanto - I adore you so much  
> mi abuela - my grandmother  
> voy a devorarte, mi principito - I'm going to devour you, my little prince  
> dame esa leche y ven conmigo - give me that milk and come with me  
> mi amor - my love
> 
> I've been sitting on this fic for two to three years, and I am so happy to have finally finished! (Or have I?) Despite all the writer's block, I still had a lot of fun writing this, and I'm glad I was able to produce something that I enjoy reading myself. 
> 
> If enough people are interested (and if I don't get writer's block for another 327 years), I might try my hand at writing another chapter detailing Gabe & Jack's and Jesse & Hanzo's prom experience.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
